Watching this and its 'sequel' only confirms the tragedy of Oliver Reed's flirtation with the bottle, and he is just one of the wonderful cast. What is especially impressive to me is that with so much scenery available to be chewed, none of the cost set their teeth to it but act in as an ensemble.

This and "Four" represent a Victorian telling of the tale in a theater: dauntless heroes, villains that can be freely hissed and heroines worth taking up the sword to defend, and by the time Lady deWinter has strangled Constance at the end of the second part and is sent to her death, and Rochefort is vanquised, the heroes appear on stage again in the wonderful coda.

Lester creates a dirty, brawling world complete with cows, sheep, pigs and men with dirt and filth on their clothes. The dandies are on the side of wrong; those who sprawl in the mud are the good guys. Yes, it bears similarity to Hard Days Night, but Lester was more than that, as anyone who has seen Petulia will agree.

George Macdonald Fraser, who wrote the script, also created the Flashman books. In the same years as the Musketeers, there was also Royal Flash, a film I have not seen in ages.